KKS cement factory to be rebuilt
I hope we will be able to produce at least 600 metric tonnes per day at the first stage of the KKS factory once it is restored
The oldest cement factory in the country at Kankesanthurai which was destroyed by the LTTE in 1990 is to be reconstructed at a cost of Rs. 1.5 billion infused by the Bank of Ceylon, State Resources and Investment Promotion Minister Dayasritha Tissera said.
The Feasibility Study in this respect was handed over to Minister Tissera by the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cement Corporation N.S.M. Samsudeen last Friday.
Minister Tissera said he would submit the relevant Cabinet memo in two weeks and expects to start reconstruction by September and begin cement production by mid 2014 at Kankesanthurai under the once popular brand ‘Kankesan Cement’ as Sri Lanka spends nearly US$ 15 million (Rs. 1950 million approximately) to import cement annually.
“I hope we will be able to produce at least 600 metric tonnes per day at the first stage of the KKS factory once it is restored. We have no problem of markets as Sri Lanka produces only 40% of the market share. Besides, KKS cement was of best quality and in much demand among the public and industrialists when it was established in 1950 by the late Industries Minister G.G. Ponnambalam,” Minister Tissera said.